Broken Wing
by ThePotterGeek
Summary: Songfic to Broken Wing by Martina McBride. Alternate ending to COTBP. What Norrington and Governor Swann had made Elizabeth marry the Commodore? Rated for safety.


Hello Wow! I'm middle aged in fanfictions…

**I had the song 'Broken Wing' (Martina McBride) stuck in my head, and I got to thinking: What if Elizabeth's father and Norrington forced her to marry Norrington? What would have happened? Check this out. This is completely AU, because it ruins the plot of the rest of the movies. So… let's just say that COTBP was a stand alone, and that I'm now doing some kind of alternate ending.**

**I don't own anything.**

**I tweaked the meaning of the song a little, because Elizabeth **_**obviously**_** doesn't love Norrington. Duh. The first verse doesn't really make sense, so 'he' refers to Will in it. In the second verse onward, 'he' is Norrington. Also, Norrington is a bit OOC in this story. Whatever. I tried my hardest. And this is a bit of a problem, because I really do like Norrington. But not this Norrington, I guess.**

**And no more typos in my stories! I took my beta back!**

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Broken Wing

_Commodore Norrington narrowed his eyes in dislike. "You forget your place, Sir Turner."_

_Without hesitating, Will grew even more defiant and replied, "It's right here, between you and Jack."_

_Before her father could stop her, Elizabeth moved next to Will, and grabbed his hand. "As is mine."_

_In panic, the Governor quickly said, "Lower your weapons." When no one did so, he said, "For goodness sake, put them down."_

_Will and Norrington were staring at Elizabeth in surprise. Jack took this moment to break out of the circle of guns. Immediately all attention was focused on him. "You will all remember this day as the day that you-" He stumbled off the side of the battlements as Elizabeth had, not long ago. The small crowd rushed to the wall, where they saw whitewater from his splash. They could just make out his tiny figure swimming towards a ship with patched-up black sails. Norrington could have issued an order to go after him, but as soon as the pirate had fallen, his attention had turned back to the young woman standing next to the blacksmith. _

_He closed his eyes and sighed. "Elizabeth, stop this nonsense. You gave me your word."_

_Her usually soft brown eyes hardened; she straightened, drawing herself up to her full height and she glared at him. "Isn't a woman allowed to change her mind?"_

_Will simply stood there, helpless to what was occurring. Elizabeth had practically confessed her love to him and now she was going to be taken away from him? __**Again?**_

_Somehow__,__the Navy soldiers had been told to clear out, so all who remained were the three men and one woman, all the former staring at the latter. _

"_I recall that you agreed to marry me so we could save this young man's life." Will's breath hitched; some __things were__ finally making sense. __"If you go back on your word, I may go back on mine," and slowly, he raised his sword to Will's throat._

_Elizabeth's jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. Once again, Will started, and the Governor's eyes snapped to the Commodore._

_Elizabeth's defiance had left her; her shoulders drooped and her head went down again. Swallowing, she opened her mouth to reply. Will didn't even let her speak. "Don't," he said. He didn't care if he had to die. Anything but for her to marry him. Of Norrington didn't kill him, that would._

_Her head lifted. She looked Will straight in the eye and said, voice cracking, "I won't kill you."_

Elizabeth Norrington sighed. Her elbows were propped on the railing of the balcony. This was her favorite place, not because when the sun set its rays hit the ocean and her eyes in the perfect way: she had stopped liking things like that a year ago. No, the main reason she loved this place was because _he_ never came out here. Moreover, when the wind was just right, she could close her eyes and feel as though she were free and flying. Alone. Without her eyes to tell her otherwise, she could hear him whisper her name, and feel phantom arms wrap around her. Yet when she opened her eyes, her fantasies were shattered: William Turner was never there. She had given her whole self to a man who she could never be with.

_She loved him like he was  
The last man on Earth  
Gave him everything she ever had_

"Elizabeth," called the perfectly proper voice from within, "Come inside, Elizabeth!"

She obeyed. Her fiery spirit had also died that fateful day.

_He'd break her spirit down  
Then come lovin' up on her  
Give a little then take it back_

"Not mooning over your lost love, are you, dear?" Norrington smirked. "You'll never have him, darling." He then kissed her, and she let him, simply because sometimes, she needed to feel loved. Even if all she felt was cold.

_She'd tell him about her dreams  
He'd just shoot 'em down  
Lord, he loved to make her cry_

"One day I'll be free," she told him weakly. "I'll find Will then. I'll make something of myself."

James was used to her telling him this. "Of course, dear." He smiled slightly, then sighed as her eyes brimmed, then released a few salty drops. "You should really stop living in the past, love. We've been married a year, and all I have to show for it are soggy bedsheets. Forget him. Aren't I enough?" He really wanted her to love him the way he did her. Behind his caring exterior, though, he was thinking,

"_You're crazy for believin'  
You'll ever leave the ground,"  
He said, "Only angels know how to fly"_

Once she was sure he was asleep, she crept out of bed and opened the balcony door. Soft wind met her; she slipped out into the open air, securing the door behind her. She closed her eyes: Will had found her. "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me," she whispered, voice wavering with the tears in her eyes.

_And with a broken wing  
She still sings  
She keeps an eye on the sky  
With a broken wing  
She carries her dreams  
Man you ought to see her fly_

The next morning was Sunday. James woke up early, leaving his wife to sleep. A small smile was on her lips as she clutched her pillow. He smiled at her serene face, and his face then saddened: she never looked at him that way.

_One Sunday morning  
She didn't go to church  
He wondered why she didn't leave_

He went downstairs after dressing, and a footman served him breakfast. Without realizing, he found himself waiting for the tinkle of a bell that would tell him Elizabeth was up and calling for a maid to ready her for Church. That she always did alone; as Commodore, he was far too busy to go pray. When nine thirty, her normal rising time, came and went, Norrington began to feel worried. She only slept in when sick or depressed (more than usual). Ten o'clock came and he was beginning to wonder why she wasn't getting ready to leave.

_He went up to the bedroom  
Found a note by the window  
With the curtains blowin' in the breeze_

He went up to their room, and was shocked by what he found. The bed was empty. The doors to the balcony were banging against the walls from the wind. He went over to them to shut them and found writing on a scrap of what seemed to be her nightgown. He read it, enraged. Going out onto the balcony, which he never did, he saw a rope of what used to be expensive dressed flapping in the breeze. Searching, he found that her valuables were gone: not jewelry, or any other thing of value, but the locket that she had taken to wearing since their renewed engagement that day on the battlements, a ring from her mother, and necessities of hers. A shirt and a pair of breeches of his were missing, as were her riding boots and the boots that she wore for comfort: men's boots, ugly, practical things. He ran down to the stable, intent on catching her.

_And with a broken wing  
She still sings  
She keeps an eye on the sky _

A lad was flying through the street on a chestnut mare, clothes that didn't fit him whipping around his body. No one knew the lad, but they also knew better than to stop him; as long as he did no harm, no one would pay him any heed.

He was off his horse before it had come to a complete stop before the blacksmith's shop. Tying the mare up, anyone with half a mind could tell he was in a hurry.

_With a broken wing  
She carries her dreams  
Man you ought to see her fly_

Elizabeth didn't notice or care that people thought she was a boy. She opened the door and walked in, small sack in hand, clutching the locket he'd given her in their last moment together, praying he would still be there.

There he was, pounding at a piece of fiery red metal. He didn't hear the door close, nor did he hear her boots hit the floor as she jumped the three-foot ledge. He was absorbed in his work, because that was the only thing he cared about anymore, seeing as the other wasn't, and could never be, his.

He did hear someone call his name; the roar of the fire and the sound of hammer meeting metal prevented him from being able to tell who it was. He put the hammer down, and turned to see who it was.

There she was, in her husband's clothes, hair falling around her shoulders, tears falling down her face. "Elizabeth," he breathed, barely allowing himself to believe it. "What-?"

Before he could finish the sentence she was there, arms around his neck, sobbing uncontrollably. Will felt tear cascading down his own cheeks as he held her, something he hadn't done since they were fifteen. Despite the familiar feeling, this was something new, but still entirely right. "I love you," they both said at the very same moment.

Sunset found them on a ship far from Port Royal, escaped forever from the grasp of Commodore James Norrington, despite his best efforts. Elizabeth had taken the name Sparrow to avoid detection. Elizabeth Swann was over, Elizabeth Norrington no longer in existence.

_With a broken wing  
She carries her dreams  
Man you ought to see her fly_

Elizabeth Turner sighed. She stood with her elbows resting on wood, staring at the ocean. She loved it here, not only because when the sun hit the water just right, it glimmered and shone like gold; no, the real reason she loved this was that Will never liked to miss out on standing there, wind whipping at the two of them as he held her. Elizabeth felt his arms around her waist. "Elizabeth," he whispered, simply for the joy that saying her name brought.

Both stared contentedly at the waves of the ocean just under them. The wind whipping at her hair, Elizabeth closed her eyes and felt _free_. Free of everything but the arms that were lovingly around her. A familiar voice, almost as welcome as Will's, pulled her out of her reverie.

"Oy! You two! Stop daydreaming and come 'elp me over 'ere!" called Captain Jack Sparrow. "I think we've got a heading!"

A grin grew on Elizabeth's face.

_Man you ought to see her fly_

--

**Well, **_**I**_** liked it, if it means anything. Review, please, if only to call me crazy that I keep writing oneshots when I have chapter fics to write. **

**Ehm… But said chapter fics will probably be deleted and redone… and brought back to you new and improved (which is an oxymoron, but **_**any**_**way…).**

**-Arnold-**


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